The present invention relates to a method of producing an object of fiber reinforced metal material, in which method a plurality of fibers or fiber bundles of a material of high strength are arranged at spaced positions, and a matrix material, preferably metal or metal alloy, is brought to closely surround each fiber or fiber bundle and is formed to a shape corresponding to the desired shape of the object.
Fiber reinforced metal materials, so called composites, is a type of material that is being used to an increasing extent. If a material of this type is used for example in turbine vanes of the type employed in gas turbines, it would be possible to increase the performance of the gas turbine quite substantially by using an oxidation resistant metal material reinforced with fibers or wires of a material having high strength properties at high temperatures. Earlier attempts to produce objects of fiber reinforced metal materials have, however, not been completely satisfactory. Problems have been encountered regarding the arrangement of the fibers in a uniform pattern with the fibers straight and parallel and having a predetermined volume fraction of the fibers in the completed object. Further problems have been encountered regarding the possibility of having the matrix material completely surround each fiber and regarding the consolidation of the material in to a dense material. In previously known methods, the fibers or the wires have usually been arranged in the desired pattern in a frame or the like, whereupon the matrix material has been added either in the form of a liquid or in the form of a powder. The former method gives a dense material, but when using high temperature alloys (e.g. nickel-base alloys) unacceptable reactions between the fibers and the matrix material occur, e.g. recrystallization of the fiber material, dissolution of the fiber material, and chemical reactions between the fiber material and the matrix material. When using matrix material in the form of a powder, carefully controlled methods are required during the consolidation procedure in order to obtain a dense material and to avoid oxidation of the powder. When using this method it is furthermore difficult to obtain high volume fractions of fiber material in the finished object.